La sociedad de la nieve

I know there have been many versions of the story told in this movie, but I haven't read or seen any of them, so this was all fresh to me.

This is not a movie I think I would ever want to watch again. The word "grueling" was pretty much invented to describe the experience of watching this film. But damn is this riveting, even if in a kind of morbid way. It's also a dazzling technical achievement, one of those films where the effects are so seamless you can't always tell what's special effects and what's real.

"Society of the Snow" is not primarily a character-driven film, yet I was impressed by how much I came to know and like all of the characters in this despite the fact that only two or three are given the majority of screen time. At first, I didn't even know who was who and only knew they had names because their character's name would be listed before their line of dialogue in the subtitles. But by the time the film was over I felt like a knew all of them and cared about them deeply.

This movie does a great job of showing the capacity humans have for normalizing behavior that in other circumstances would be unthinkable.

One of my favorite movies of the year.

Grade: A.

First, let's get something out of the way: "Society of the Snow" is not a remake of "Alive" (1993), just like James Cameron's "Titanic" wasn't a remake of 1958's "A Night to Remember", which also wasn't a remake of any previous Titanic-centered movies. This is the adaptation of a different book covering the story of the Andes survivors - another take on the same real-life event.

As directed by J. A. Bayona (back at the survival thriller genre after 2012's "The Impossible") and led by a group of unknown Uruguayan and Argentinean actors, "Society of the Snow" is not only authentically cast and produced, but powerfully moving in its conception of narrative.

There's an unexpected focal character here, but the movie plays out as an ensemble piece and, true to its title, portrays every person as essential to the outcome. There's a feeling that those who lost their lives were just as responsible for the ultimate rescue of their remaining friends as those who eventually reached civilization to seek help - not just for selflessly volunteering their bodies for food, but for providing comfort, solidarity, acceptance, even humor!, under the most dreadful of circumstances.

This is a movie that will stay with you. Please, don't miss out on it.

Comparison between extreme wide shots of beautiful and even magical nature and close-up of faces of agony and shots of cramped space of broken aircraft creates a bizarre sense of incompatibility. To heighten the reality of the movie, the crew and actors really put in all the effort, and I can even see that. Location filming, set design, and weight loss take a big part in transporting the audience back to that winter in 1972 and to the deep pile of snow somewhere in the Andes. Enzo Vogrincic's performance is applaudable. He describes the events from a step behind from the crowd, but he is still a part of the team. He maintains that balance perfectly. He does not seem too detached but still sees everything from above.

Already having seen Alive several times and being v familiar with the 1972 story, I honestly didn't believe it necessary to see this version.

However a good friend persuaded me to go see it and the rest is history!

This is without doubt the definitive version, the story is told with authenticity and a v keen Director's eye.

I was worried about the foreign subtitles, but needn't have been since it kept me in the movie and made the connection to all the players even more heartfelt.

This is a reminder to us all, that nothing is impossible and when facing insurmountable adversity the human spirit is capable of triumph! Inspirational and to those who died on that fateful and subsequent days in the Andes, they will never be forgotten 🙏🏿

I've always loved the 1993 version (Alive) and seen it lots of times so I was always looking forward to seeing this. I thought it was pretty good... that is until the last 30 minutes - wow! So much emotion and completes the whole story that was missing from the 1993 version.

By no means am I saying this is a poor film, in fact the production was great and so much time and effort went into this going from the write ups prior to its release. Having relations involved from the true story also makes it more emotional.

If you find it long at almost 2hrs 30min just hold out to the last 30 minutes.